He said nothing in the next week, and she was too proud to pester him. Instead, she spent the early morning hours helping Sally. Later in the day, she hitched a ride down the mountain to watch the mustangs in Jeffries' field. Some guest or staff member was always heading to town to pick up supplies. After a couple of hours of hanging around the pasture, she'd start walking home. If no one she knew stopped to give her a ride, Mel hiked the whole way back to the ranch. As she told her mother, who wanted to know why she so frequently missed lunch or was late to dinner, a five-mile hike up a mountain was good exercise. Her spirits rose so high, Mel even wrote an e-mail for her mother to send to Tanya. “So what's new with you? The big excitement around here is there's three wild horses down the road. The one I like best has a look in his eye like he's someone I could get to know.” Maybe Tanya would think I’m crazy to say that, Mel thought, but she asked her mom to send the message anyway.
